Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, generator, gearbox, nacelle, and one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades capture kinetic energy of wind using known foil principles. The rotor blades transmit the kinetic energy in the form of rotational energy so as to turn a shaft coupling the rotor blades to a gear system, or if a gear system is not used, directly to the generator. The generator then converts the mechanical energy to electrical energy that may be deployed to a utility grid.
Various bearings may rotatably support various rotating components in the wind turbine. For example, the gearbox includes a front bearing that supports the low-speed gearbox shaft and a rear bearing that supports the high-speed generator shaft. Such bearings typically includes an inner race, an outer race, and a plurality of rolling elements disposed therebetween so as to allow rotation of the inner and outer races with respect to each other. Thus, one of the races may be stationary while the other race rotates. More particularly, the front bearing of the gearbox typically includes an inner race that rotates with respect to a stationary outer race via rolling elements arranged between the races. Further, the inner race is typically mounted to the low-speed shaft for rotation therewith. In some instances, the stationary outer race may have a design flaw or may become worn during operation, thereby causing undesirable movement of the outer race within the gearbox. For example, the outer race may start to move relative to the torque arm, which can cause damage to the torque arm of the gearbox.
In such instances, the wind turbine must be shut down so that the gearbox can be lowered to the ground and repaired or replaced. Such repair methods are costly and time-consuming.
Thus, an improved method for performing up-tower maintenance on a gearbox bearing of a wind turbine so as to prevent undesired movement of the bearing would be welcomed in the art.